AH, WILDERNESS!
Sunday, September 15th, 2013
A quarter century before Eugene O’Neill’s deep dark look at a fictionalized version of his drug-and-alcohol-addicted family, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, first opened on Broadway, the soon-to-be Nobel laureate treated 1933 New York theatergoers to an idealized vision of that same family in his one-and-only comedy Ah, Wilderness!
Now, a year after its multiple-Scenie-winning revival of Long Day’s Journey, Actors Co-op introduces its audiences to the Millers (a lighter, brighter version of the O’Neills/Jeromes), and what a delightful, beautifully staged and acted production the Co-op has come up with.
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EAT THE RUNT
Saturday, August 10th, 2013
A dozen actors take turns playing all eight roles in Eat The Run, Avery Crozier’s uniquely addictive black comedy, now back for a return visit to Hollywood’s Theatre Of NOTE, and to paraphrase a classic TV commercial, “Bet you can’t see it just once.”
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PACK UP THE MOON
Tuesday, July 16th, 2013NOT RECOMMENDED
A gay couple still dealing with the sudden crib death of their adopted child decide a year later to become parents again—this time through surrogacy. Could there be a more current, hot-button topic for a world premiere play?
If only Christina Cigala’s Pack Up The Moon lived up to that promise.
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NINE
Saturday, July 13th, 2013
DOMA Theatre Company follows its smash 99-seat revival of Dreamgirls with another dreamgirl-packed Tony-winning musical, a mostly quite successful downsizing of the big-stage Broadway hit Nine.
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FATHERS AT A GAME
Friday, July 12th, 2013
A pair of night-and-day different dads cheering on their teenage sons at a high school football game would seem more likely to inspire an odd-couple comedy à la Richard Dresser’s hilarious Rounding Third than an electrifyingly edge-of-your-seat thriller, but this is precisely what Trey Nichols has concocted in his one-act Fathers At A Game, now completing a brief Best Of Fringe extension following its original Hollywood Fringe run.
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ABSOLUTELY FILTHY
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013
For anyone who has ever wondered how the Peanuts gang might have turned out later in life, Brendan Hunt’s Absolutely Filthy now joins Bert V. Royal’s Dog Sees God in answering just that question; and though Royal’s Peanuts-As-Teens satire ends up more to my liking than Hunt’s Peanut-At-Thirty parody, it’s easy to understand why Absolutely Filthy became such a hit for Sacred Fools that they brought it back for five performances at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
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THE BONEYARD AND TALISMAN
Friday, June 28th, 2013NOT RECOMMENDED
There’s no L.A. actress whose work I enjoy seeing more than Elephant Theatre Company’s Kate Huffman. Elephant artistic director David Fofi is one of the consistently finest directors in town. Timothy McNeil’s Supernova was singled out for a Scenie as one of The Twelve Best Plays Of The Year and McNeil’s performance in The Little Flower Of East Orange won him a Best Lead Actor Scenie. That’s why it’s disappointing to report that their latest collaboration as star, director, and writer/star of the pair of one-acts entitled The Boneyard and Talisman ended up not this reviewer’s cup of tea despite three excellent performances and Fofi’s sharp direction.
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THE REAL HOUSEKEEPERS OF STUDIO CITY
Friday, June 21st, 2013
Divorced Studio City homemaker Ashley Tribbiani has a shot at being picked as one of TV’s Real Housewives Of Studio City. There’s only one problem. As any reality TV fan will tell you, a real Housewife needs to have a real Housekeeper, and with ex-hubby Joey seriously in arrears on his alimony and child support payments, Ashley has hardly been able to hire help since their split. Now, with her Real Housewives audition only an hour away, Ashley (Lani Shipman) and gay best friend Scot (Ryan O’Connor) have exactly sixty minutes to hire the best maid possible out of ten of TVland’s most famous housekeepers.
Fortunately, the Hollywood Fringe Festival has allotted precisely one hour for Joe Green, Heidi Powers, Tom Moore to debut their brand new musical The Real Housekeepers Of Studio City, and what a sixty-minute-musical gem it is.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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